Hotel Tales: Stories From the Inside

Those with an interest in the industry or who have spent any time working within it, or in related industries, will have heard plenty of stories about things that go on that are kept from the public. Recently we came across a few news items which relayed some tales from those at the coal face who’ve had to face guests and their aftermaths on a regular basis. It’s no surprise that given that hotel rooms offer a private and relatively anonymous space that it might reveal one or two elements of our nature that is otherwise unrecognised, but salacious details weren’t the only elements of interest to emerge from the confessions and they make for very interesting reading, even for those with experience of being on the inside!

Some of the below are lifted from the referenced sources, and some from a fascinating Ask Reddit session.

AOL Travel notes in this piece that a shark somehow managed to get into the swimming pool of a public resort in Las Vegas. Short of science fiction or a ‘Sharknado’ style natural disaster, how does a shark get into a swimming pool? The answer is a little uncertain, if we’re ruling out an elaborate prank gone too far, we can only assume accident as the cause. From existing knowledge, there’s certainly one hotel in Vegas which offers a shark oriented swimming pool experience, although in this instance the sharks are certainly intended to be kept separately from guests enjoying a dip. The illusion is created by the glass being almost invisible under water. A trick employed by many such attractions at hotels and water parks the world over. This piece covers Golden Nugget’s shark swimming pool in Vegas, although we can only speculate as to which hotel was actually the culprit and how the incident happened.

From the same piece, another great story emerged. Apparently ‘staff in Hamburg found a naked, drunk man on the floor of the lobby and put him in an empty room so he could recover. Thirty minutes later another naked, drunk man was found in the same room. It later turned out that they were father and son.’ Another mystery that we can’t satisfactorily explain, alien abduction or a heavy night drinking perhaps being two candidates.

One story that had a more straight forward explanation told the tale of a young married couple, who had woken up in the hotel the day after their wedding with another man in their bed. A stranger who they don’t remember getting in bed with. It transpired the mystery man had entered their room in an extremely drunk state and got into bed thinking he had entered his own room. It seems the happily married couple had slept through this intrusion. Probably not how they expected their first night in the marriage bed to turn out. The article offers a good collection of stories which reflect the occasionally bizarre nature of hotel work and is well worth a read to those who have experienced this first hand and those who haven’t.

Some of the accounts which came out of the Ask Reddit session were a little more macabre, spooky in some cases and in some instances just plain seedy. As one user tells it they ‘got into a lift from the top floor to head down. Lift stopped at 4th floor, door opened, saw people outside standing still, making no attempt to come in despite me (sic) being alone inside and there was room for them. The automatic lift door then closed and before it was completely shut I heard someone outside said ‘Why is the lift so full of people?’ A confusing if not chilling tale, but not alone as a ghost story from those working in hotels. Perhaps there’s something about late nights, in often repetitive work, often alone and in old and grandiose buildings that does something to your mindset, but there are plenty of accounts of spectres taking advantage of hotel hospitality. Another use tells a story of a headless figure in a ‘faded victorian dress’ that they saw walking away from them in a hotel corridor. The whole (now archived) thread can be read here.

This piece by the Telegraph picks out a few choice stories from another less supernaturally oriented thread made of submissions from hotel staff past and present. Including the tale of the ‘Pie Guy’ who would pay for his room, and leave a $100 deposit that he never intended to recover. Staff would later find his bathroom covered in the remains of several large pies. Exactly what went on inside is left to your imagination. The original thread is again well worth a read for those who have spent any time in hotel work and can be found here.